1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a relay apparatus under which terminal devices are arranged, and to a relay method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, in the case of connecting an emergency call from an IP telephone terminal to an emergency report center (such as a police station and a fire department), the emergency call has been outputted to an IP network by inputting a special number to the IP telephone terminal, and the IP telephone terminal and the emergency report center have been connected to each other through the IP network.
Moreover, there has been disclosed an emergency call connection system capable of making a report to an emergency report center corresponding to a position of the IP telephone terminal itself in such a manner that an IP packet which includes a signal requesting the emergency call in response to the input of the special number and includes information on the position of the IP telephone terminal is transmitted to the IP network, the emergency report center corresponding to such positional information is selected, and a call is established with the selected emergency report center (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-198757).
However, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-198757 described above, it is assumed that the IP telephone terminal directly connects to the IP network, and it is premised that the IP telephone terminal has a function to connect to the network concerned. Therefore, in the conventional technology, it has been difficult to connect, to the emergency report center, the emergency call requested from a terminal device which does not have the function to connect to the network, such as an extension connecting to an access point in a business office.
In this connection, in consideration of the above-described problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide a relay apparatus and a relay method, which are capable of appropriately connecting the emergency call requested from the terminal device to the network even if the terminal device does not have the function to connect to the network.